Terry Gunderson leads the Casper College Percussion Ensemble one more time

Terry Gunderson, Casper College percussionist instructor, will lead the Casper College Percussion Ensemble for the final time on Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Durham Recital Hall.

Gunderson, a member of the Casper College Music Department for the last 33 years, will be leaving the college to join his wife, Patty, in her new career as an architectural engineer in Washington, D.C.

"The concert will feature the music department's remarkably talented students playing works that form a retrospective of my years here including a composition I recently completed as a final number for the ensemble, The End of the Beginning, to celebrate my final years here," said Gunderson.

Pieces will include Warsaw 1939, the percussion sextet that opened the first concert he directed at Casper College in 1978; Fancy That, a "charming jazz number" the ensemble hasn't played since the 1980s, featuring Matt Greenlee on vibraphone. And, as promised at last year's concert, the group will perform Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance, featuring Rob Benson on xylophone.

Rhythm Net, one of many works Gunderson has composed for his students over the years, and performed by the Peruvian group Takaq, can be viewed by visiting www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwQLLqOk0aY

The concert is free and open to all. Durham Recital Hall is located in the Aley Fine Arts Center on the Casper College campus.

As a landmark is destroyed, we remember the short but lively history of book festivals in Wyoming

Smoke is in the morning air. Residue from the fire that destroyed the Hitching Post Inn, a Cheyenne landmark.

The Hitch was the site for the first Wyoming Bookfest on Oct. 26-27, 2001. We remember that fall for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the anthrax attacks on Congress. Then came the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. forces. Smoke was in the air everywhere that year.

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, a handful of writers and booklovers were organizing what we hoped would become an annual tradition.

If I remember correctly (and I don’t always) the idea started with a meeting of local writers Chip Carlson and Larry Brown with Gene Bryan, who then was in charge of events at the Best Western Hitching Post Inn Resort and Conference Center, a.k.a. “The Hitch.” That’s pretty much what everyone called it, then and now.

The three co-conspirators thought a bookfest was just the thing for Cheyenne. Unlike its surrounding states, Wyoming had yet to have a statewide book festival. It would benefit writers, booksellers and The Hitch.

Linn Rounds, then head of the Wyoming Center for the Book, was pulled into the committee. So was I from the Wyoming Arts Council. Kathy Murphy, secretary to Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Director John Keck, volunteered to keep track of all the proceedings. She did a great job, Kathy, alas, died a few years later. In the end, we had a great collection of people, including Kathleen Gillgannon of the YMCA Writer’s Voice, and reps from the Laramie County Public Library and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Warning for anyone planning a book festival – it’s a lot of work. Forty-two poets, writers, editors, storytellers, musicians and at least one wood sculptor participated in the Oct. 26-27 event. That doesn’t include booksellers and presses featured at the book fair. Committee members were running around like crazy people, getting people to the correct rooms and finding more chairs when needed.

It got off to a heady start with a Friday evening reading by four poets laureate: Robert Roripaugh of Wyoming, Mary Crow of Colorado, David Lee from Utah and Bill Kloefkorn of Nebraska. The crowd was SRO, and it was a real thrill to have four great poets reading their work at one event. Just think of how many square miles are represented by these people from four big almost-square states (Nebraska's more of a weird rectangle).

David Lee was fresh from his appearance at the first National Book Festival on the National Mall in D.C. That event was organized by the Library of Congress and First Lady Laura Bush.

We also had a guest speaker that evening in U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi. Sen. Enzi and his staff no longer had access to their offices in D.C. due to the anthrax attacks. So he brought a batch of staffers with him to Cheyenne. He spoke about the recent happenings in the capital, but then launched into one of his favorite subjects – books. He’s a big reader – I’ve watched him buy bags full of books from appreciative Wyoming writers.

Sen. Enzi also was in town for a very somber event. This was the funeral of one of the first American soldiers killed in Afghanistan. U.S. Army Spec. Jonn Edmunds of Cheyenne was on a helicopter ferrying troops to the war zone when it crashed Oct. 19 in Pakistan. All aboard were killed.

Thousands attended the Saturday funeral. We had hoped for thousands that day at the bookfest, but fell a bit short. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We had fantastic sessions on writing cookbooks, westerns, mysteries and poetry in rooms scattered throughout The Hitch. We had some of the best anthology editors in Wyoming – Nancy Curtis, Candy Moulton and Bill Hoagland -- talking about “Editing Western Anthologies.” Local writer C.J. Box, who’s now published more than a dozen mysteries and won the prestigious Edgar Award, talked about “Whodunits on the High Plains.” I was on a panel with writers Teresa Funke and Jeffe Kennedy talking about “Starting (and Maintaining) Your Writing Critique Group.” My group is still intact, as is Teresa’s. Jeffe’s group in Laramie is defunct – and she now lives in Santa Fe.

On the Children’s Stage in the now-destroyed Saddleback Lounge, my son and his pals at East High staged an open mike. It also saw performances by Aussie storyteller Paul Taylor and the Cheyenne Youth Symphony.

We were exhausted by the end of the day. In the ensuing weeks, we went over all the evaluations. Most negative comments were about lack of attendance and lack of book sales. Lots of people had lots of ideas about how to make it better. More publicity. More big-name authors. Bigger book fair. Get more people to do the work. Involve more local organizations and business.

Here’s one comment I liked: “A number of authors travel a great distance to attend — at last give them a sandwich for lunch.”

You want mayo or mustard with that?

Here’s a great comment from C.J. Box: “The bookfest shouldn’t be all things to all people… While musical performances and wood art may bring in some folks, the bookfest should be about books and authors.”

A few months after the bookfest, the committee met for a brainstorming session. We stormed our brains out. We all wanted to have another bookfest, but there wasn’t enough interest to form a solid committee to write grants, enlist sponsors and plan the myriad bookfest details. Not right away, anyway.

It was five years before there was another book festival. This one was a true statewide book event, the Equality State Book Festival in Casper. It was six years before there was another bookfest in Cheyenne, and that was the Wyoming Book Festival in locales throughout downtown Cheyenne. It continues to be a project of the Wyoming Center for the Book at the Wyoming State Library.

Planning for the first ESBF began in late 2004. It involved a very motivated and dependable planning committee. A big budget too – more than $100,000. Lots of sponsoring organizations in Casper and throughout Wyoming.

The third ESBF will be held Sept. 24-25 at Casper College and environs. I’m on the committee but the real work is done by the Casper organizers, notably co-chairs Laurie Lye and Holly Wendt of Casper College.

Here’s to you, bookfest organizers. Lots of work and little glory. But people come out to see their favorite authors and buy books. Every year, bookfest authors go to local schools to get kids excited about reading. Bookstores sell books. Authors read from their books. There’s a late-night slam for poets. Workshops for striving writers and poets.

We’ve all learned some lessons since that first bookfest when the smoke and ashes from 9/11 were still in the air.

The Hitch was not officially an historic site, just the place of many memories for many people. Nine years ago it was the place where we constructed the foundation for bookfests to come. Now it’s smoke and ruins.

See you in Casper Sept. 24-25 as we keep building bookfest traditions in Wyoming.

--Michael Shay

This story was cross-posted (in a slightly different form) from the hummingbirdminds blog

"Humanities Matter!" conference schedule

The Wyoming Humanities Council presents
"Humanities Matter!"
Friday and Saturday, October 23-24, 2009
Central Wyoming College, Riverton

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009

8:15 to 11:45 a.m.
Pre-conference tour – Wind River Reservation

11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Registration
Robert A. Peck Arts Center Gallery
Arts Center Building, Central Wyoming College

Noon to 2:00 p.m.
Luncheon and Welcome
Marcia Wolter Britton, Executive Director, Wyoming Humanities Council
Robert A. Peck Arts Center Gallery

Opening Remarks
First Lady Nancy Freudenthal

Introductions, Guest Speakers
Eric Sandeen, Wyoming Humanities Council Board Member and Director, American Studies Program,
University of Wyoming

Keynote Address: “What are the humanities, and why do they matter?”
Keynote Speaker: David Berry, Executive Director, Community College Humanities Association;
National Humanities Medal winner

Conversation Circles: “Revisited: What are the humanities and why do they matter?”
Introduction, Jenn Koiter, Conference Coordinator, Wyoming Humanities Council
Conversation Facilitators: Wes Connally, Central Wyoming College; Anne Hilton, Eastern Wyoming College; Lisa Arhart, Gillette College; Jennifer Sheridan, Northwest College; Chris Propst, Western Wyoming Community College; Nita Kehoe Central Wyoming College; Wayne Deahl, Eastern Wyoming College; Jim Johns, Laramie County Community College; Oona Doherty, Teton County Library; Maryanne Andrus, Buffalo Bill Historical Center

2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Registration
Student Center Building, Central Wyoming College

2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Technology and Learning Workshop: Humanities 2.0
Introduction, Jason Burge, Wyoming Humanities Council
Jason Thompson, University of Wyoming
Laura Crossett, Park County Library, Meeteetse
Lisa Arhart, Gillette College
Classroom Wing 104 (Computer Lab)

Where in the World is Wyoming? The Case for International Programs
Introduction, Jenn Koiter, Wyoming Humanities Council
Barbara Mueller, Casper College
Yarong Ashley, University of Wyoming
Candra Day, Vista 360
Little Theater, Student Center Building

Humanities for Everyone: Working with Targeted Audiences
Introduction, Sheila Bricher-Wade, Wyoming Humanities Council
Chris Propst, Western Wyoming Community College
Paul Bergstraesser, University of Wyoming
Dick Kean, American Heritage Center
Fremont Room, Student Center Building

3:00 to 3:15 p.m.
Refreshment Break

3:15 to 4:15 p.m.
Possible Worlds: Learning, Beliefs, and Instruction in Real and Virtual Worlds
Introduction, Jenn Koiter, Wyoming Humanities Council
Brock Dubbels, University of Minnesota
Fremont Room, Student Center Building

What Do We Mean, Public Humanities Scholar?
Introduction, Jenny Ingram, Wyoming Humanities Council
Rex Myers, Northwest College
Mary Humstone, University of Wyoming
Troy Rumpf, Laramie County Library
Maryanne Andrus, Buffalo Bill Historical Center
Main Hall133

The Humanities and Beyond: Working Across Disciplines
Introduction, Jason Burge, Wyoming Humanities Council
Bruce Richardson, Wyoming Arts Council
Mark Ritchie, University of Wyoming
Rebecca Laroche, University of Colorado
Little Theater, Student Center Building

4:15 to 5:15 p.m.
Humanities Hootenanny: Innovative Humanities Programs
5-minute presentations of successful humanities projects, followed by discussion
Introduction, Marcia Wolter Britton Wyoming Humanities Council
Pete Simpson, Moderator
Mary P. Sheridan-Rabideau, Teaching Creativity Conference (University of Wyoming)
Anne Hilton, Perspectives Series: Water Symposium (Eastern Wyoming College)
Wayne Turner, Place-Based Conference (Teton Science Schools)
Anne Hatch, Art of the Hunt (Wyoming Arts Council)
Mary Humstone, Tracks Across Wyoming (Partnership Consortium)
Dave Reetz, Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation (Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Powell)
Fremont Room/Little Theater

5:45 to 7:30 p.m.
Reception
Feature presentation—“Migrations”
Geoff O’Gara, Wyoming PBS
Entertainment Room, Wind River Casino

8:30 p.m.
Open Mic Night: Open forum for sharing songs/rants/poems/prose/ideas
Holiday Inn, Riverton


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2009

8:00 to 8:30 a.m.
Registration/Coffee and Tea
Student Center Building, Central Wyoming College

8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
Workshop: Getting Started in Second Life
Introduction, Jenn Koiter, Wyoming Humanities Council
Brock Dubbels, University of Minnesota
Classroom Wing 107 (Computer Lab)

Workshop: Service Learning in the Humanities? Yes we can!
Introduction, Sheila Bricher-Wade, Wyoming Humanities Council
Gretchen Wheeler, Casper College
Bonnie Zare, University of Wyoming
Ebba Stedillie, Casper College
Fremont Room, Student Center Building

Integrating American Indian Content: How to Do It Right!
Introduction, Jenny Ingram, Wyoming Humanities Council
Caskey Russell, University of Wyoming
Sergio Maldonado, Central Wyoming College
Leslie Kedelty, Wyoming Travel and Tourism (check details on their website)
Little Theater, Student Center Building

9:45 to 10:00 a.m.
Refreshment Break

10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Humanities Engaged: The Art of Regional Change
Introduction, Jenn Koiter, Wyoming Humanities Council
jesikah maria ross, ARC Director, University of California, Davis
Mike Ziser, English, University of California, Davis
Holly George, Plumas-Sierra County Cooperative Extension Director, University of California, Davis
Patsy Eubanks Owens, Landscape Architecture, University of California, Davis
Little Theater, Student Center Building

11:30 to 12:30 p.m.
Open Space Brainstorming: Humanities/Public Humanities Ideas, Grants, Projects
Moderated by ARC, University of California, Davis
Fremont Room, Student Center Building

Gallery Walk with Photographer Sara Wiles – Work from “Dreaming the West” and the “Northern Arapaho Photo Project”
Robert A. Peck Fine Arts Gallery, Arts Center

12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
Luncheon and Conversation: “Continuing the Conversation: The New Face of Wyoming Humanities”
Marcia Wolter Britton and Jenn Koiter, Wyoming Humanities Council
Robert A. Peck Fine Arts Gallery, Arts Center

Closing Remarks
Sara Needles, Administrator, Wyoming Cultural Resources Division

Join Anthony Sacco and other writers Saturday at Wyoming Book Festival

A number of poets and writers from Wyoming will have book tables at the Wyoming Book Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19. One of them is Pine Bluffs writer Anthony Sacco, who sends this:

This coming Saturday morning (9/19/09), I'll be at at Wyoming Book Festival in Lions Park in Cheyenne discussing my three books: Little Sister Lost, The China Connection, and Echoes in the Wind.

The festival is featuring a number of authors, an author's fair, kids crafts, storybook characters, and lots more, beginning at 10 a.m. and going on until 3 p.m., at or near the Ampitheater and the Community Building. I'll have a table, and a few chairs, so we can sit and talk a bit. Will also have copies of my books for sale, so if you'd like a signed copy, this is your chance to get one.

It will be a fun day for the whole family. Hope to see you there.

Anthony J. Sacco, 307-245-3304. Find out more about his books at http://www.saccoservices.com/littlesister.php

Wyoming Bookfest will feature "Authors' Fair"

From a Wyoming State Library press release:

The Wyoming State Library is looking for authors interested in participating in the Authors’ Fair for the 2009 Book Festival.

The 2009 Wyoming Book Festival will be held at Lions Park in Cheyenne from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept, 19. The festival will have eight featured authors in addition to an Author’s Fair.

“The Authors’ Fair is a great chance for authors to get the word out about their work and participate in the festival,” says Tina Lackey, Publications and Marketing Manager for the Wyoming State Library

Authors can sign up for a 15-minute slot to showcase their work. There is no fee for the Authors’ Fair. Authors may sell books and do book signings within this allotted time. Authors participating in the Authors’ Fair will not have their books sold by book festival vendors. However, for a fee, authors may sign up as a festival vendor.

Cheyenne East High School DECA Chapter is coordinating vendors for the festival. They are donating all money earned from vendors to Muscular Dystrophy.

For more information the Authors’ Fair, contact Lesley Lipska at (307) 777-7283 or llipsk@state.wy.us. To become a vendor contact Manuel Flores at East High School, (307) 771-2663, floresm@laramie1.k12.wy.us.

Wyoming BookFest Sept. 19 in Lions Park

From Tina Lackey, Wyoming State Library:

Returning in the name of fun, knowledge and entertainment, the second Wyoming Book Festival will take place Sept. 19 in Cheyenne.

The book festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Lions Park. The last book festival, held in September 2007 on the Capitol Grounds, but this year organizers chose to move the event based on festival feedback.

"We had a really great turnout last time, and we made sure to listen to those attendees in order to create a better festival the next time," says Wyoming State Library Publications and Marketing Manager Tina Lackey.

"Festival goers told us the past festival was too spread out, which made it difficult to attend all the events. This time we made it much more convenient for them."

Organizers have also chosen to reduce the number of featured authors to make for a more intimate, informative festival. The festival will showcase these eight authors: Margaret Coel, Tina Forkner, Gene Gagliano, Craig Johnson, Zak Pullen, Cindy Reynders, Peg Sundberg "Cowgirl Peg" and Cat Urbigkit.

In addition, festival goers can participate in children’s crafts, visit with storybook characters, explore the authors’ fair, and much more.

"This is a great opportunity for people in the area to do something that is both educational and fun. We’re excited to have the festival again, and hope to see the same kind of enthusiasm we saw last time," Lackey says.

For more information, visit the Wyoming Book Festival’s Web site at www.wyomingbookfestival.org or the book festival blog at http://wyobookfest.blogspot.com

Look who's reading "Deep West"

During the 2009 Legislative Session, many Wyoming legislators took time out from the House and Senate floors to have READ posters created of themselves. These posters will be displayed at the libraries in the legislators' districts.

Here are some legislators with the obvious good taste to read the 2003 collection "Deep West: A Literary Tour of Wyoming," sponsored by the Wyoming Center for the Book and published by Pronghorn Press in Greybull. They are (from the top): Rep. Sue Wallis (R, HD-52), Recluse, on the right, shown with Campbell County Librarian Patty Myers; Rep. Debbie Hammons (D, HD-27), Worland; and Sen. Dan Dockstader (R, SD-16), Afton. To see all the READ posters, go to http://wyla.org/read.

In Memoriam: Jean Healy of Worland

One-time Wyoming Arts Council board member Jean Elizabeth Bailey Healy of Worland died Monday, Jan. 19, at Worland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center after a long-term battle with the side effects of radiation treatment for a brain tumor in 1991. She was 63.

A Minnesota native, Jean was instrumental in the establishment of the Washakie Museum. Jean, Georgia St Clair, Dorothy Froyd, Carol McCormac, Celia Davis, Dan Healy, the Worland Artists and the Washakie County Historical Society formed the Friends of the Museum group and raised private funds to buy the present museum building for Washakie County. Jean served as the first president of the board of directors of the museum after the commissioners released it to the private sector. Jean stayed active with the museum in its day-to-day operations. She also wrote a column for the Daily News called “At the Museum.”

Jean loved horses, skiing, reading, cooking and entertaining, and to be with her family. She wrote a small book about her experience with brain cancer titled “Hope for a Miracle.”

Jean is survived by her husband Mike Healy of Worland, a former state legislator, and her sons Daniel J. “DJ” Healy serving in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine and Brian Healy who is a law student at the University of Wyoming.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 24 at noon at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Worland with the Rev. Joe E. Galligan officiating. A reception will follow the service. Cremation has taken place and the ashes will be scattered near Jackson Hole at a later date.

Memorials may be made to the Washakie Museum, 1115 Obie Sue, Worland, Wyo. 82401.

Next Wyoming Book Festival set for 9/19/09

The Wyoming Center for the Book at the State Library has announced that the next Wyoming Book Festival will be held in Cheyenne September 19, 2009.

WCFB Director Tina Lackey will be coordinating the event, which debuted last year on the grounds of the State Capitol and surrounding government buildings. It was a festive atmosphere, with scores of readings, book signings and panel presentations by more than 70 Wyoming poets and writers. The Wyoming Arts Council staffed an information tent in front of its historic building, and our backyard was the site of the poetry tent. WAC staffer Mike Shay (also your trusty wyomingarts correspondent) read from his book of stories and appeared on a nature writing panel with Gary Ferguson, Jeff Lockwood, and Chip Rawlins.

Get updates on the 2009 festival from Tina Lackey at 307.777.6338 or mailto:bookfest@state.wy.us.WCFB web site is http://www-wsl.state.wy.us/wcb/